Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa was inaugurated Monday for his second full term after a disputed national election in which he defeated challenger Nelson Chamisa. The main opposition says Mnangagwa’s re-election means another five years of economic stagnation and what they see as presidential illegitimacy.

An estimated 40,000 people saluted President Emmerson Mnangagwa as he arrived at National Sports Stadium in Harare Monday.

In his speech, Mnangagwa thanked Zimbabweans for what he called a “peaceful” and “transparent” elections.

He promised to exploit Zimbabwe’s natural resources to establish a manufacturing base and turn around the economy.

“The numerous mineral resources in our country must be sustainably exploited to leap-frog our industrialization and development,” Mnangagwa said. “The lives of our citizens and the fortunes of our country as a whole must be improved… Riding on our abundant resources as well as skilled and hardworking people, Zimbabwe is poised to take its place as a competitive manufacturing jurisdiction.”

Mnangagwa appears to have a heavy task ahead of him, with his country suffering one of the highest inflation rates in the world, and possessing an almost worthless currency.

Unemployed 23-year-old Martin Chibeza says he had to drop out of school as his parents could not afford the fees. He wants the president to spark the economy and create jobs.

“He must re-open industries which are yet to reopen such as automotive and entrepreneurship that would be helpful for us,” Chibeza said. “Some of us do not have education, so if some industries open, we will get employed, even when you did not finish school.”

Back to the inauguration: That’s a 21-gun salute and flyover by Zimbabwe Defense Forces forces to mark the beginning of Mnangagwa’s new term.

Mnangagwa supporters such as 69-year-old Marker Mugadzi were in a celebratory mood.

“What has happened today is really great,” Mugadzi said. “President Mnangagwa is our friend, we fought together the liberation struggle. I wish the government can provide water and repair roads, land and decent houses. That’s my wish from Mnangagwa.”

Mnangagwa took power in a 2017 coup that unseated longtime ruler Robert Mugabe, then won the disputed 2018 election.

In last month’s elections, the 80-year-old politician beat 45-year-old Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change party, according to official results which the opposition is protesting.

The CCC’s vice president Tendai Biti sees a gloomy future for Zimbabwe if the election results are not reversed.

“The election has been condemned by virtually every (observer) team and most significantly SADC, who have made it very clear, that it falls so short of required international standards,” Biti said. “So, under those circumstances a flawed process cannot produce a flawed outcome. Therefore, we are back in the zone of 2018 where legitimacy was contested. And once legitimacy is contested, you can’t govern.”

Only three presidents from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) — whose observer mission said the polls were not credible — attended Mnangagwa’s inauguration Monday.

The three were Filipe Nyusi from Mozambique, Felix Tshisekedi from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.

 
…

your ad here

South Africa’s president said Sunday that an independent panel has found that there is no evidence that a Russian ship gathered weapons in South Africa for Russia.

Reuben Brigety, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, alleged in May that a Russian ship had docked at Simon’s Town Naval Base near Cape Town to receive a shipment of weapons that would be transported to Russia. 

“None of the allegations made about the supply of weapons to Russia have been proven to be true,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday. “No permit was issued for the export of arms and no arms were exported.”

The allegations raised issues concerning South Africa’s neutrality about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and could have exposed the African nation to the possibility of Western sanctions.

The South African leader said the allegations “tarnished” the country’s image.
…

your ad here

The charity Doctors Without Borders has called on the international community to prevent a “catastrophic” humanitarian disaster in Chad, as an influx of refugees from neighboring Sudan overwhelms aid groups’ abilities to cope. In this report from Adre, Chad, Henry Wilkins meets refugees whose children are suffering from malnutrition.
…

your ad here

Much of the world takes daily weather forecasts for granted. But most of Africa’s 1.3 billion people live with little advance knowledge of what’s to come. That can be both deadly and expensive, with damage running in the billions of dollars.

The first Africa Climate Summit opens Monday in Kenya to highlight the continent that will suffer the most from climate change while contributing to it the least. Significant investment in Africa’s adaptation to climate change, including better forecasting, will be an urgent goal. At the heart of every issue on the agenda, from energy to agriculture, is the lack of data collection that drives decisions as crucial as when to plant — and when to flee.

The African continent is larger than China, India and the United States combined. And yet Africa has just 37 radar facilities for tracking weather, an essential tool along with satellite data and surface monitoring, according to a World Meteorological Organization database. Europe has 345 radar facilities. North America, 291.

“The continent, at large, is in a climate risk blind spot,” said Asaf Tzachor, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge. In August, he and colleagues warned in a commentary for the journal Nature that climate change will cost Africa more than $50 billion every year by 2050. By then, Africa’s population is expected to double.

The widespread inability to track and forecast the weather affects key development choices, their commentary said: “There is no point investing in smallholder farms, for example, if floods are simply going to wash them away.”

Kenya, the host of the climate summit, is one of the few countries in Africa seen as having a relatively well-developed weather service, along with South Africa and Morocco. Kenya has allocated about $12 million this year for its meteorological service, according to the national treasury. In contrast, the U.S. National Weather Service budget request for fiscal year 2023 was $1.3 billion.

The vast expanse of the 54-nation African continent is relatively unserved and unwarned.

“Despite covering a fifth of the world’s total land area, Africa has the least developed land-based observation network of all continents, and one that is in a deteriorating state,” the WMO said in 2019.

And because of a lack of funding, the number of observations by atmospheric devices usually used with weather balloons decreased by as much as 50% over Africa between 2015 and 2020, a “particularly serious issue,” the WMO said in a report last year.

Fewer than 20% of sub-Saharan African countries provide reliable weather services, the report said. “Weather stations are so far apart that their data cannot be extrapolated to the local level due to the varying terrain and altitude.”

Now, 13 of the most data-sparse African countries, including Ethiopia, Madagascar and Congo, are getting money to improve weather data collection and sharing from a United Nations-created trust fund, the Systematic Observations Financing Facility. An older funding mechanism with many of the same partners, Climate Risk & Early Warning Systems, has supported modernizing meteorological systems in a half-dozen West and Central African countries.

And it’s not just forecasting. As climate shocks such as Somalia’s worst drought in decades become more common, better recording of weather data is a critical need for decision-making.

“For many people in the West, accurate weather forecasts often make lives more convenient: ‘Shall I take an umbrella along?’ In Africa, where many people depend on rain-fed agriculture, that is all a bit sharper,” said Nick van de Giesen, a professor of water resources management at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. “With a changing climate, traditional methods to determine, say, the onset of the rainy season are becoming less reliable. So, farmers regularly sow after a few rains, after which rains may fail and seeds will not germinate.”

That can be devastating during the current global food security crisis.

Van de Giesen is the co-director of the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory, a project that has helped to set up about 650 low-cost local weather monitoring stations in collaboration with schools and other entities across 20 African countries. Not all of those surface monitoring stations are operational because of issues including threats by extremist groups that limit access for maintenance in areas such as Lake Chad.

“To be clear, TAHMO can never be a replacement of efficient and effective national weather services,” van de Giesen said, adding that many African governments still don’t have the needed resources or funding.

In countries like Somalia and Mozambique, with some of the continent’s longest and most vulnerable coastlines, the lack of effective weather monitoring and early warning systems have contributed to thousands of deaths in disasters such as tropical storms and flooding.

After Cyclone Idai ripped into central Mozambique in 2019, residents told The Associated Press they had received little or no warning from authorities. More than 1,000 people were killed, some swept away by floodwaters as loved ones clung to trees.

Cyclone Idai was the costliest disaster in Africa, at $1.9 billion, in the period from 1970 to 2019, according to a WMO report on weather extremes and their economic and personal tolls.

The lack of weather data in much of Africa also complicates efforts to link certain natural disasters to climate change.

Earlier this year, a collection of climate researchers known as World Weather Attribution said in a report that limited data made it impossible to “confidently evaluate” the role of climate change in flooding that killed hundreds of people in Congo and Rwanda around Lake Kivu in May.

“We urgently need robust climate data and research in this highly vulnerable region,” their report said.

Last year, the researchers expressed similar frustration in a study of erratic rainfall and hunger in West Africa’s Sahel region, citing “large uncertainties” in data.

They urged investments as simple as a network of rain gauges, saying that even small shifts in rainfall can affect millions of people.
…

your ad here

Tens of thousands of protesters Saturday gathered outside a French military base in Niger’s capital Niamey demanding that its troops leave in the wake of a military coup that has widespread popular support but which Paris refuses to recognize. 

The July 26 coup — one of eight in West and Central Africa since 2020 — has sucked in global powers concerned about a shift to military rule across the region.  

Most impacted is France, whose influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa in recent years just as popular vitriol has grown. Its forces have been kicked out of neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso since coups in those countries, reducing its role in a region-wide fight against deadly Islamist insurgencies. 

Anti-French sentiment has risen in Niger since the coup but soured further last week when France ignored the junta’s order for its ambassador, Sylvain Itte, to leave. Police have been instructed to expel him, the junta said.  

Outside the military base Saturday, protesters slit the throat of a goat dressed in French colors and carried coffins draped in French flags as a line of Nigerien soldiers looked on. Others carried signs calling for France to leave.  

Reuters reporters said it was the biggest gathering yet since the coup, suggesting that support for the junta — and derision of France — was not waning.  

“We are ready to sacrifice ourselves today, because we are proud,” said demonstrator Yacouba Issoufou. “They plundered our resources, and we became aware. So, they’re going to get out.” 

By early evening local time, there had been no apparent outbreaks of violence. 

France had cordial relations with ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and has about 1,500 troops stationed in Niger.  

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke to Bazoum every day and that “the decisions we will take, whatever they may be, will be based upon exchanges with Bazoum.”  

Niger’s junta denounced the comments as divisive and served only to perpetrate France’s neo-colonial relationship.  

France is not the only country with concerns. West Africa’s regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States has slapped sanctions on Niger and threatened military action as a last resort. The United States and European powers also have troops stationed in the country.  

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, who holds ECOWAS’ revolving chairmanship, said last week that a nine-month transition back to civilian rule could satisfy regional powers.  

Niger’s junta had previously proposed a three-year timeline.  
…

your ad here

The leader of a coup that this week overthrew Gabon’s President Ali Bongo said Friday that he wanted to avoid rushing into elections that “repeat past mistakes,” as pressure mounted on the junta to hand back power to a civilian government.

Military officers led by General Brice Oligui Nguema seized power Wednesday, minutes after an announcement that Bongo had secured a third term in an election.

The officers placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year hold on power.

The coup — West and Central Africa’s eighth in three years — drew cheering crowds onto the streets of the capital Libreville but condemnation from abroad and at home.

Nguema said in a televised address on Friday evening that the junta would proceed “quickly but surely” but that it would avoid elections that “repeat the same mistakes” by keeping the same people in power.

“Going as quickly as possible does not mean organizing ad hoc elections, where we will end up with the same errors,” he said.

Central African regional bloc ECCAS has urged partners led by the United Nations and the African Union to support a rapid return to constitutional order, it said in a statement after an extraordinary meeting Thursday. It said it would reconvene Monday.

Gabon’s main opposition group, Alternance 2023, which says it is the rightful winner of Saturday’s election, urged the international community on Friday to encourage the junta to hand power back to civilians.

“We were happy that Ali Bongo was overthrown but … we hope that the international community will stand up in favor of the Republic and the democratic order in Gabon by asking the military to give back the power to the civilians,” Alexandra Pangha, spokesperson for Alternance 2023 leader Albert Ondo Ossa, told the BBC.

She said that the junta’s plan to inaugurate Nguema as head of state on Monday was “absurd.”

Crackdown on Bongo entourage

Bongo was elected in 2009, taking over from his late father who came to power in 1967. Opponents say the family did little to share Gabon’s oil and mining wealth.

For years the Bongo family occupied a luxurious palace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. They own expensive cars and properties in France and the United States, often paid for in cash, according to a 2020 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a global network of investigative journalists.

Meanwhile, almost a third of the country’s 2.3 million people live in poverty.

Military leaders ordered the arrest of one of Bongo’s sons, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several members of Bongo’s Cabinet early on Wednesday on accusations ranging from alleged embezzlement to narcotics trafficking.

State broadcaster Gabon 24 said Thursday that duffel bags stuffed with cash wrapped in plastic had been confiscated from the homes of various officials. Its footage included a raid on the house of former Cabinet director Ian Ghislain Ngoulou.

Standing next to Bongo Valentin, he told the channel that the money was part of Bongo’s election fund. It was unclear when the images were shot.

Lawyers for Bongo’s wife said on Friday that Bongo Valentin was incarcerated in an undisclosed location, and the family were concerned about his safety.

The streets of Libreville were calm on Friday under a heavy security force presence. Talk focused on the junta’s response.

“You need politicians to manage a transition, and above all a state,” said retired Libreville resident Timothe Moutsinga.

“We expect a lot from this government and this transition, a transfer of power to civilians.”

The takeover in Gabon follows coups in Guinea, Chad and Niger, plus two each in Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020. The takeovers have erased democratic gains in a region where insecurity and widespread poverty have weakened elected governments, worrying international powers with strategic interests at stake.

The White House said on Friday that it was pursuing “viable diplomatic solutions” to the situations in both Gabon and Niger, where a coup ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.

Alternance 2023 has said it wants a full vote count from Saturday’s election, which it said would show Ondo Ossa had won. Gabon’s election commission said after the election that Bongo had been re-elected with 64% of the vote, while Ondo Ossa secured almost 31%. Ballot counting was done without independent observers amid an internet blackout.

Pangha said the opposition hoped to get an invitation from the junta to discuss the Central African country’s transition plan but said it had not received anything yet.

The African Union’s Peace and Security Council on Thursday called for fair and transparent elections. It said it will impose sanctions on the coup leaders if they do not restore constitutional order.

France, Gabon’s former colonial ruler, and other Western powers have condemned the takeover.
…

your ad here

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield will head to the border of Chad and Sudan on Tuesday to meet with refugees from the war in Sudan and the humanitarians who are assisting them.

“With new horrific reports of ethnically motivated mass killings and conflict-related sexual violence in West Darfur, the Sudan conflict risks ongoing mass atrocities and requires an urgent international response,” a senior administration official told reporters Friday.

The official added that the United States continues to work on accountability measures aimed at those responsible for such horrific acts and that the ambassador would have more to say about that on her trip. Washington has repeatedly called for an end to the fighting.

Since hostilities erupted in mid-April between rival generals from the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Security Forces, more than a million people have fled to neighboring countries. Fighting has been fierce in the capital, Khartoum, and in parts of the Darfur region, particularly in West Darfur.

Darfur saw wide-scale ethnic violence and crimes against humanity in the early 2000s. The International Criminal Court opened an investigation into the situation in 2005 and charged then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with genocide. He remains beyond the court’s custody despite having been ousted from power in a military coup in April 2019.

“Sadly, this situation is reminiscent of events that led the United States to make a genocide determination in 2004,” the U.S. official said. “We want to call global attention to what is happening, as we continue to work to rally action in response.”

Thomas-Greenfield, who is a member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet, will meet with Chad’s transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Deby, to discuss how the conflict is affecting his country, which already hosted some 400,000 Sudanese refugees before the latest violence. She will also meet with members of civil society.

The U.S. official said Thomas-Greenfield is expected to announce new humanitarian assistance during her trip.

The ambassador will also stop in Cape Verde to meet with government officials on a range of bilateral and regional issues and meet with alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative program.
…

your ad here

The new leader of Gabon’s junta is due to be sworn in as president of the central African republic on Monday, but the opposition is asking for power to be handed over to civilians.

Gabon is the latest country to fall into the hands of a military junta, adding to a record-setting eight coups in three years in sub–Saharan Africa.  

While the coups bear some similarities, this latest one has notable differences, according to Sean McFate, professor at the National Defense University. 

“The major difference is that Gabon is close to Paris unlike, say, Mali or Burkina Faso where there is a lot of anti-French sentiment in the population and in the government,” McFate said. “Another thing that is different is that the president really isn’t … it’s questionable about the validity of his elections. You’ve had one ruling family there since 1967.” 

The military junta, under the leadership of Brice Oligui Nguema, annulled last week’s election results that would have handed a third term to President Ali Bongo, who’s under house arrest.  

“This is not the Niger coup, where you have a democratically elected president who has been removed in a scenario that appears that the coup makers were advancing personal interest rather than national interest,” said Kwaku Nuamah, a senior lecturer at American University’s School of International Studies. “In the Gabonese case, you have someone whose family has dominated the country, for a long time has misruled and is not popular.”  

Bongo’s family has been in power for 56 years in the manganese, timber, and oil-rich central African country of Gabon.  

Some of the countries bordering Gabon, including Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo, have some of the longest-sitting presidents on the continent. 

“There is a likelihood we can see contagion in other places where the military has to step in to remove long-serving civilian rulers who are under performing. That’s the danger,” Nuamah said.  

The African Union suspended Gabon’s membership on Thursday. The Economic Community of Central African States condemned the coup as well, saying it will convene a special session to discuss this most recent military takeover in the region.  

But Nuamah said he hopes the meeting won’t be one of issuing unenforceable ultimatums — which was the case recently with Niger versus the West African economic bloc.  

The coup in Gabon was unexpected, he said, but given the past three years, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.  

“It appears as if the regional and continental measures for resolving these coups or preventing them are not working. Everybody is watching how ECOWAS handles Niger,” Nuamah said. “Mali has resisted pressures to return to constitutional rule, Burkina Faso, so they look around and see the international community is unable to punish coup makers, so they plan their coups.” 

ECOWAS slapped heavy sanctions and gave the Niger junta one week to hand over power or face possible military intervention. But for now, the organization says it’s giving diplomacy a chance.  

For McFate, military coups are a dangerous trend for the continent, and he questions the response or lack thereof from some international organizations. 

“In the world of international diplomacy, credibility is your only currency and ECOWAS blew it badly,” he said. “Also, where is the United Nations in all of this, where is the African Union? Beyond strongly worded condemnations, they are absent, they are AWOL.”  

McFate and Nuamah also say democracy has recently taken a hit in many countries around the world. And while some countries like Niger and Gabon might be temporarily embracing their military juntas, the analysts say it’s no indicator the future will be better.  
…

your ad here

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Thursday floated the idea of a transition back to democracy in neighboring Niger similar to the nine-month period his country underwent in the late 1990s.

The Economic Community of West African States has imposed sanctions on Niger after troops ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup on July 26 and the bloc threatened military intervention as a last resort if talks fail to restore civilian rule.

In a statement Thursday, the bloc insisted it wanted Bazoum back in power right away.

“The military authorities in Niger must restore constitutional order immediately by liberating and reinstating … President Mohamed Bazoum,” it said.

Niger’s new military leaders have dug in, saying they want a maximum three-year transition period to restore constitutional order and have ordered police to expel France’s envoy as tensions build with a key partner in Niger’s anti-jihadist fight.

Late Thursday, Niger’s interior ministry announced it was stopping U.N. agencies, NGOs and international organizations from working in military “operation zones.”

It did not specify which regions were affected, but said the measures were “due to the current security situation.”

“All activities and or movements in the zones of operations are temporarily suspended,” it said.

Transition period

Tinubu said Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after a nine-month transition period instituted by former military head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who has also headed delegations to meet the Niger junta.

“The president sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger, if Niger’s military authorities are sincere,” the Nigerian presidency said in a statement.

Algeria, Niger’s influential northern neighbor, has met with West Africa leaders in a bid to avoid any military intervention in Niger and has proposed a six-month transition.

But Tinubu’s statement said there would be no relief from sanctions imposed by ECOWAS, of which he serves as chair, until the regime made “positive adjustments.”

“The soldiers’ action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger,” it said.

The overthrow of Niger’s government has triggered concern around West Africa where Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have all been taken over by the military since 2020.

Fears of contagion have deepened with this week’s military rebellion in Gabon to overthrow President Ali Bongo, toppled moments after being declared winner of a highly disputed weekend election.

Diplomatic battle

Niger’s new military rulers have also been engaged in a political battle with Paris, and stripped France’s ambassador of diplomatic immunity and ordered police to expel him, according to a letter seen Thursday by AFP.

The envoy “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as member of the diplomatic personnel in the French Embassy,” according to their letter, dated Tuesday, to the foreign ministry in Paris.

Relations with France spiraled downwards after the July coup when Paris stood by Bazoum and refused to recognise Niger’s new rulers.

Last Friday, the authorities gave French envoy Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country.

France refused the demand, saying the military rulers had no legal right to make such an order.

French military spokesperson Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere on Thursday warned that “the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger.”

France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital, to help fight a jihadist insurgency in Niger.

On Aug. 3, Niger’s new rulers denounced military agreements with France, a move that the government in Paris has also ignored on the grounds of legitimacy.

An organization set up after the coup named the Patriotic Front for Niger Sovereignty (FPS) has led public demands for the coup leaders to take a hard line.

It is calling for a “massive” march next Saturday on the French base, followed by a sit-in until the troops leave.

Dispatch of troops

A landlocked former French colony in the heart of the Sahel, Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies — a spill over in southeastern Niger from a long-running conflict in neighboring Nigeria, and an offensive in the southwest by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.

Bazoum came to office in 2021 after democratic elections — a watershed in a country that had had no peaceful transition of power since independence from France in 1960.

He suffered two attempted coups before finally being toppled by members of his own guard.

ECOWAS responded by warning it could intervene militarily to restore civilian rule if efforts to end the crisis diplomatically fail.

Swift to support their military comrades in Niger, Mali and Burkina have said that any such operation would be deemed a “declaration of war” against them.

Burkina Faso has approved a draft law authorizing the dispatch of troops to Niger, according to a government statement in Ouagadougou on Thursday. 
…

your ad here

A campaign in Africa to make beans the answer to food insecurity in areas affected by climate change will begin next week, with a focus on Kenya. A coalition of proponents will present its roadmap for increased production and consumption of beans and similar foods like lentils and peas at the Africa Food Systems Forum, to be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. 

“Beans is How,” the name for a coalition of more than 60 non-profit organizations, companies and research institutes, has set its eyes on Kenya, pushing for a 100% increase in the consumption of beans and other foods classified as pulses. 

Jean Claude Rubyogo, head of the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA), an organization that pushes for beans as a source of food and income for the continent, said the first step is to help farmers grow more beans. 

“First of all, we need to double the production because if we don’t have enough, like in Kenya, there are many people, maybe half, who would like to eat beans daily and even as a meal but the availability is minimum,” he said. “So, we need to increase productivity, we need to see how we can reduce the cost to the consumer and at the same time incentivize the farmer with better varieties, with better agronomic practices so that they can increase production and productivity.”  

Climate change has affected bean farming just as it has impacted other crops. Unpredictable weather patterns have made it challenging for farmers to cultivate beans and get good harvests.

Experts say low awareness among farmers about utilizing the proper seed varieties for their specific local conditions has led to reduced yields. The presence of pests and diseases has also played a role in declining bean production.

Rubyogo said a reduction of planting and harvesting time can help alleviate the farmers’ hunger and poverty.

 

“For now, we have varieties going up to 65 days, 70 days, 80 days,” he said. “That’s shorter than any other food crop, so you can see when it’s short, it allows farmers to get cash because it reduces cash hunger periods. It also reduces the hunger period in families so that people can get food in a short period of 70 days. That means you can grow several seasons a year if you invest in water management.”  

Experts are also working on beans that can take less cooking time, saving families energy and time.

Despite not producing enough beans, according to the Global Diet Quality Project, half of Kenyans eat pulses daily.  

Paul Newnham, head of the Sustainable Development Goal 2 Advocacy Hub, which coordinates the Beans is How campaign, said beans are universal and nutritious on top of it.

“Beans is something you find in all different cultures around the world,” he said. “So, you find traditions that have used beans right back from indigenous cultures and all types of different cuisines. Beans are also relatively cheap compared to many other foods … Beans are also super nutritious. They have not only protein, they have fiber, and they have lots of micro-macronutrients. They are also great for the soil.”

Newnham said Beans is How has developed a roadmap to increase the production and consumption of beans.

“The first is to influence and activate a community of bean stakeholders and a champion and influencers in this, being producers, retailers, champions, chefs, young people, and social media influencers, to make beans visible and accessible and desirable and at the same time to build understanding among the decision makers as the value of beans and tackling the policy agenda to ensure and inspire the public to eat, grow more beans, he said.” 

Beans is How will be featured at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Tanzania next week. Bean advocates will host a market stall there, demonstrating ways to cook the food.
…

your ad here

The Central African regional bloc ECCAS Thursday condemned the use of force to resolve political conflicts as it called for a rapid return to constitutional order in Gabon.

The Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States said in a statement it was closely monitoring the situation in Gabon, and that heads of state would hold an imminent meeting to discuss the political and security situation.

After army officers said they seized power and placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest Wednesday, other nations condemned the events, including the United States which called for Bongo’s release and the preservation of civilian rule.

“The United States is deeply concerned by evolving events in Gabon.  We remain strongly opposed to military seizures or unconstitutional transfers of power,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Miller also noted concern about “the lack of transparency and reports of irregularities surrounding the election” in Gabon in which Bongo won a third term in office.

The mutinous soldiers announced the coup on national television just moments after the nation’s election commission declared Bongo had won.

The officers said that the election results were invalidated, all state institutions dissolved and all borders closed until further notice.

General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, chief of the Republican Guard, was designated president of the transitional committee.

Oligui is Bongo’s cousin. He had been a bodyguard for Bongo’s late father, President Omar Bongo, and was the head of the secret service before becoming the leader of the guard.

Bongo later appeared in a video calling on “friends of Gabon” to “make some noise” to support him. The 64-year-old president, seated in a chair, said he was at his residence and that his wife and son were elsewhere.

But the crowds that poured into the streets of the capital, Libreville, celebrated the news of the president’s removal, with several demonstrators saying they were glad the Bongo family was out of power.

Bongo first took office in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled the oil-producing country for the previous 42 years.

Opponents say the family has failed to share the country’s oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people.

Gabon is a former French colony and one of its closest allies in Africa.

“France condemns the military coup that is underway in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments,” French government spokesperson, Olivier Veran, said Wednesday. Véran restated France’s commitment to free and transparent elections, as did Great Britain and Canada. France has about 400 troops in Gabon.

However, according to a French accountability group, nine members of the Bongo family are under investigation in France, and some face preliminary charges linked to corruption. The family has been linked to more than $92 million in properties in France, including two villas in Nice, according to the group.

Gunfire was heard throughout Libreville after the officers’ initial television appearance. The U.S. Embassy has advised Americans in the capital to shelter in place and limit unnecessary movements.

Flights out of Libreville have been canceled, and the city’s port has halted operations.

Saturday’s elections were overshadowed by a lack of international observers, raising concerns about transparency.

Afterward, Bongo’s government curtailed internet service and imposed a nightly curfew across the nation, saying it was necessary to prevent the spread of misinformation.

Internet access seemed to be at least partially restored after the coup announcement.

The declared coup comes on the heels of last month’s military overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger, the latest in a series of coups across West and Central Africa since 2020. Bongo survived an attempted military takeover in January 2019 as he was recovering from a stroke.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
…

your ad here

More than four months into Sudan’s devastating war, arms dealers are struggling to keep up with demand for a trade that is booming, at a deadly cost.

“A Kalashnikov? A rifle? A pistol?” said a 63-year-old dealer known as Wad al-Daou, offering his wares with a resounding laugh.

“The demand for weapons has soared so high that we can’t possibly meet it,” he said at a market near Sudan’s borders with Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Fighting broke out on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The war has killed thousands, displaced millions and flooded the arsenals of a country already awash with weapons.

Arms dealers say prices have skyrocketed, while authorities loyal to the army have repeatedly reported the seizure of “sophisticated” weapons.

On Aug. 10, state media said a shootout erupted in the eastern city of Kassala between soldiers and traffickers over vans loaded with weapons bound for the RSF.

A security official said it was one of “three major seizures of weapons” in Kassala and near the Red Sea port of Suakin.

“That’s in addition to smaller operations,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The newest models

But smugglers say authorities have been unable to curb the arms flow.

“We used to receive a shipment every three months, but now we’re getting one every two weeks,” Daou said.

Even before the war, authorities had sought to curb the massive influx of arms.

At the end of 2022, a government commission charged with rounding up illegal arms estimated there were five million weapons in the hands of Sudan’s 48 million citizens.

This excluded “those held by rebel groups” in the western and southern states of Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile that are served by long-established smuggling routes.

But since the war began, there have been many “fresh faces” trying to make a quick buck, said Saleh, another arms dealer who refused to give his real name.

It’s a “thriving market”, the 35-year-old said after hopping down from his new four-wheel drive clutching two smartphones.

Demand is high, since what began as a war between rival generals has spiraled to include tribes, rebels and civilians desperate to protect themselves.

‘Crossroads’

In a recent video, one of Sudan’s eastern tribes showed hundreds of its members — weapons in hand — vowing to support the army.

Such shows of force are costly, with the price of a Kalashnikov jumping to “$1,500 per rifle, up from $850 before the war,” Saleh said.

More sophisticated arms are even more expensive.

An American M16 rifle goes for $8,500, and a prized Israeli firearm for up to $10,000.

Asked where his weapons come from, Saleh cut the conversation short, only saying “machine guns and assault rifles… come from the Red Sea.”

He refused to elaborate on the supply route that the security official also blames for the arms influx.

“Smugglers take advantage of the war in Yemen and the situation in Somalia” to carry out their business via the southern Red Sea, the official said.

“These groups are connected to international arms trade networks and have massive capabilities.”

Along the coast south of Tokar, near Eritrea, traffickers take advantage of “a weak security presence,” using “isolated ports and the rugged terrain” that others can’t navigate, said the official.

“The border area has always been a crossroads for arms deals, thanks to Ethiopian and Eritrean armed groups at war with their governments,” he added.

‘We don’t ask’

The arms then converge at one spot — the sparsely populated Al-Batana region between the Atbara tributary and Blue Nile state.

In late August, police raided the area, injuring civilians in the process, according to activists.

This is where Daou sells his shipments, to customers he describes as “farmers and herders who want weapons to protect themselves.”

Authorities insist the arms they have found in the country’s east were bound for the RSF, who categorically deny any illicit dealings.

“We are a regular force,” one RSF source said, referring to the paramilitary group’s former status as an auxiliary branch of the army since 2013.

“Our weapons sources are well known and we do not deal with traffickers. We catch them,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

For Saleh, it is inconsequential.

“We sell our weapons to people in Al-Batana,” he said. “We don’t ask them what they’re going to do with them afterwards.”
…

your ad here